The Unwanted Guest

Where has the time gone since my last post? Actually there's much to report and I hope through a few little posts to catch you up-to-date on our experiences lately. Recently we had an unwanted guest who just hung around our house, gorged himself on goodies day after day, left our dogs in a tizzy, and kept us awake all hours of the night for 3 nights in a row. The kids referred to him as Alexander and here's a picture of him during his first visit.

Only one time before they saw another moose which we were so lucky to see on their first night in Alaska, and only Fabian was awake to see it. The kids thought the moose was cool for the first day and would sit for hours watching out the window as Alexander grazed. Luckily he would venture off into the woods just long enough in the late afternoon for Marissa to go feed Buddy, our Alaska sled dog. I wouldn't let any of the other kids outside for those days for safety precautions. The kids are learning that animals in the wild are dangerous even if they look very mild-mannered. Fabian even remarked on how he wanted to hop on Alexander the moose's back and ride him like a horse. His dreams of being a cowboy are deeply inspired I'm afraid. I don't dare tell him that his crazy dad, Rick, in his renegade days also dreamed of riding on the back of a moose - a feat that he actually accomplished with success during his wild youthhood growing up in a quaint little Alaska town. There's no possible way we would share any of those wild endeavors Rick went through while growing up until the kids are in their adult years. There's just too many crazy tales to be shared! I'm mighty thankful Rick's changed his antics to live by God's ways and doesn't partake in pure craziness anymore. It's just utterly amazing how Rick lived through some of the things he's put himself through, much of which reach far beyond childhood pranks and acts. Heck, these stretch far into his adulthood years, but thankfully through all the nutso stuff, God's taken care of him and taught him a thing or two along the way. Clearly God has big plans for my husband and his testimony is still taking shape!

Alexander the Moose was a name chosen by Fabian, named after the treasured stuffed animals (a moose for each kid) we sent both Fabian and Karen along with other small gifts and our photo books to introduce ourselves as their new family just after we received the referral. Fabian named his stuffed moose Alexander and Karen named her stuffed moose Cookie. Both stuffed animals (Alexander and Cookie) were cuddled at night by their owners, until about the 2nd week in Cucuta when stuffed animal Cookie vanished. Karen was so distraught upon losing Cookie and found a bit of comfort cuddling with Cheetoh (a little cheetah stuffed animal Luis never took to). We figure Cookie got bundled up with the laundry that day and went off to the laundry never to be returned. Obviously Cookie must've wanted to stay in Cucuta. Upon arriving in Alaska, Karen had the chance to get another Cookie stuffed moose but she chose an eskimo-dressed doll instead... that figures. She does love her dolls.

All kids were given the opportunity to pick out a stuffed animal or whatever while there at Wal-mart in the souvenier aisle. Marissa chose an eskimo doll just a little larger in size than Karen's, and Fabian chose a little white cuddly polar bear. The baby even got a colorful little beanie baby of a moose. We had sent one exactly like this one to Luis with his little photo books and small gifts consisting of a baby blanket, a few bibs, a baby rattle, and a cute little onesie, but all items except the baby blanket and the onesie stayed with his foster mother. I even gave back the baby blanket Luis had been using to his foster mother at our "gotcha day". She appeared to be the nostalgic type as I am, and since it held his scent I thought she might find it soothing and a reminder to cling to through the years. She continued to hug me and tell me of how her prayers for the children were answered, and how she had prayed specifically for a good Christian family to raise them. Clearly she sure loved my baby boy and she and I couldn't hold back shedding our tears of joy during our precious few moments of meeting. Those two foster mothers sure worked wonders in the love and care for our children! I am so grateful for the impact they've made upon my children!

Our family coming together was and continues to be a heavenly union filled with pure love! Thank you Jesus for all you do -- mainly how you brought it all together. Lord, you clearly went before us to unite our family. You alone are worthy!

Signing off now because Luis is expected to wake up from a nap anytime now, but I'll pop in another picture of the unwanted guest, Alexander. While in Cucuta we learned they don't really have a spanish word for moose so it was referred to as "la reina".

So glad prayers were answered and the neighboring countries have settled their dispute with Colombia, which was really a touchy situation last week. Cucuta being a border city with Venezuela was very much impacted. When you think about it, while there we only saw 2 gasoline stations within the city of Cucuta of which have very few customers. I mean, why buy the extremely expensive gasoline from a Colombian station when you can get the street vendors selling gas by the roadside locally for a much lowered price (gas being brought across the border from Venezuela sold locally), or why not just drive across the border to Venezuela and fill up yourself for an even cheaper rate? That's what everyone seems to do there and so many of them plate their vehicles in Venezuela but live and work in Cucuta. A win-win situation which could turn ugly with enough tension to close the borders. It's easy to see how easily chaos could break out during mounting friction involving the closing the border of Colombia/Venezuela there. That town of one million people could easily be crippled in just days, especially since the town is nicknamed "the sprawling city" because of its vast area. Those with bicycles and horses might be okay but it would sure put a damper on transportation mighty fast. My prayers are that the people of Cucuta re-examine any vulnerabilities of their past dependencies. Lord I pray for you to raise up the people of Cucuta to be filled with wisdom and insight!

Blessings to you all,

Genece